A whirlwind few months and perfect timing led to Dan Lowther’s appointment as Werribee’s coach for the Victorian Football League season.
After the departure of premiership coach Jimmy Allan to St Kilda, the Tigers quickly moved to sign Lowther.
Having had experience with the Geelong Falcons and then Geelong VFL and AFL programs, Lowther had spent the past five years at Geelong’s AFLW coach.
“It has been a whirlwind,” Lowther said. “I’ve jumped out of one program and into another a few weeks later.
“For me, it’s a positive step in the right direction.”
After finishing up at Geelong, Lowther always wanted to get back into coaching.
He said he hadn’t anticipated it happening that quickly but soon worked out this would be the perfect move for him.
“With Jimmy moving on at short notice to St Kilda and me leaving Geelong we got in touch with each other and whether it would work.”
Lowther said working in female football had opened up some new opportunities.
He said he loved working in that program and allowed him to take a deep dive from a holistic point of view and see where the program sits.
Lowther said a lot of his previous coaching involved working with younger players in that 18-23 age group and this would be similar.
He said there were a number of things that stuck out to him about the role.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s close to home,” he said. “I’ve only heard good things and things are structured well on and off the field.
“They are well resourced like an AFL program.
“It’s been a pleasant surprise.”
The Tigers are back in training after the Christmas break.
Lowther said football manager Kyle Hartigan had done a really good job with recruiting while also locking in the core group.
“He’s looked at depth and where we need to improve,” he said.
“We’ve gone to work on some midfield depth. Last year we relied on too few to carry the load.
“When you have two or three end up on AFL lists as well as team staff it speaks to what they are doing well.
“We want to build on last year.”
Lowther said they were starting to get ready for a busy four weeks with practice matches, the standalone cup and intraclubs to be there before they know it.
Meanwhile, Werribee has finalised its coaching set up with Rowan McSparron joining as an assistant coach.
A two-time premiership coach at local level, Rowan arrives at Werribee following a lengthy stint as Colac senior coach.
